No bail for man behind Rs 50 crore housing fraud

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sent out a strong message to builders who dupe gullible investors looking for dream homes at affordable prices. The HC denied bail to Chairman and Managing Director, Lakshmi Vatika Ltd, D K Aggarwal who has spent 16 months in jail for housing fraud.

Aggarwal allegedly duped over 5,000 investors to the tune of Rs 50 crore by promising them houses in Dehradun, Mumbai, Mohali and Patna. Though he charged Rs 50,000 to Rs 7 lakh from investors, Aggarwal never had the land nor infrastructure.

He operated from a swanky office at Barakhamba Road, placed ads in English dailies and got a Bollywood actress to endorse 'housing projects'.

As per the complaint to the police, Aggarwal allegedly represented to the public that Vatika owned 100 acres of land in Dehradun for developing a dream project 'Drona City' but later it transpired they did not own even an inch of land there and even the Bhoomi Pujan ceremony was stage-managed. The case was probed by the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police.